Grandma Lou and Grandpa Ron took me home just as winter was setting in.
Now, keep in mind—I’m a little Southern boy, born and raised where snow is about as common as a unicorn sighting. So when I first saw snow, I had no clue what it was.
I still had a pretty good vocabulary back then—way beyond what most kids could dream of.
One time, years later, I was hanging out with my mom, and she asked me,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOh0C9O3yK5
“Do you still know what congeniality means?”147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpdv3im22hA
And I said, “No.”147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Z5WQJMvSF
She laughed and told me we were watching the Miss America pageant when I was two, and I asked her,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZ0PGEakdo
“Am I Mr. Congeniality?”
That’s when I realized: I had a vocabulary most kids could only dream about.
So, when we finally got to Grandma and Grandpa’s house and Grandpa tried to put me down in the snow, I wasn’t about to let that happen without a fight.
I looked at him and said,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5bg5Rl9dqt
“No! You ain’t puttin’ me down in that bird poop. Ew!”
Snow might have been a mystery, but some things—even at two years old—were crystal clear.
Grandpa looked at me and said,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YM60RerCe
“Bud, it ain’t bird poop. It’s snow.”
I looked him dead in the eye and said,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCGvAPb4DB
“Don’t care. Ew! Don’t know what that stuff is.”
But of course, they sat me down in it anyway.
I put my hand on the snow. It was cold. Real cold. Like, why cold?
I ran straight to the back door, shivering and not looking back.
Grandma still has that sign on her back porch that says,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeW99B1jtjI
“Backdoor Guests Are Best.”
Guess even back then, I wasn’t just any guest—I was family.
I guess even back then, I wasn’t exactly a guest.
Now, I’m not going to go over every little “evil” thing I did while living with my grandparents—that would take forever.
But I will tell you this:147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlHjRwAxkZz
When I was four, I ran away from home.
Not because I wanted to see the world or anything fancy like that.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNX3QgFEidi
Nope.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Mk9TMEvJJ
I just didn’t want to do chores.
I had gotten this little plastic cow on a leash for Christmas, and I took him with me when I went over to the next-door neighbor’s house.
We called her Grandma Coe—because that’s just what you do in the South.
Grandma Coe looked at me and said,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdX2yg6yB4O
“Darlin’, you can’t stay here. You gotta go back to your Grandma’s.”
So she called ahead, and Grandma Lou was waiting.
When I saw Grandma Lou, spanked me on the botom, and then I said if you spank me you gotta spank cow he 's my cacomplis. if that cow could talk it would have said, snitches get stiches.
The next year, I went to two weeks of preschool summer camp at the Indiana School for the Blind.
Now, I gotta tell you—there was a pool at Sals Park, and I got dunked by an older student.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguUYhzEMKV
Almost drowned twice.
Yeah, not exactly the best swim lessons ever.
But other than that, it was a good time.
After camp, I started kindergarten at Lambert Hall at the Indiana School for the Blind.
My kindergarten teacher was Miss Francoviac.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7XN9vgieN
She was patient and kind—exactly what a little blind kid like me needed to start figuring things out.
So, the first week at school, they had this giant snake pillow in our classroom.
I asked if it had a name.
Miss Warren, our class aide, said,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnyznz4Cep7
“No, it doesn’t have a name. Why don’t you name it?”
Well, the week before school started, I’d had a Faygo Redpop soda.
And that snake pillow was bright red—just like my soda.
So I named it Redpop.
And just like that, Redpop the snake became part of the class.
Miss Murray was the boss of our house parents.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKiiUtIdBf
But she wasn’t just some authority figure with a clipboard and a whistle.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxghVamMjVQ
She actually played with us kids.
One time, she took us for a ride on this old horse wagon. We were laughing, bouncing around, having the time of our lives.
But after a while, she stopped and said,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYlVG1bk8Fs
“Alright, kids—you gotta get off.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl5qPhNrdep
This is a horse buggy, not a Miss Murray buggy!”
We groaned and begged for one more ride, but she just laughed that Miss Murray laugh and helped us all down.
She had that perfect balance: fun like a big sister, firm like a momma, and always looking out for us.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw72EkqO4eZ
147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXV6e81IHfd
Now Miss Murray, bless her heart, could be a real goofball when she wanted to be.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwSDoV6XHw
And sometimes... she had jokes.
There was this one time—she kept playing pranks on me.
She had these little toy R2-D2s, you know, the beeping robot from Star Wars.
Well, somehow those things kept moving.
One minute they were on the shelf.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAmB85C54XK
Next minute, they were across the room.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGr9cJfYc2d
Then they'd be in my chair.
And every time I asked what was going on, Miss Murray just said,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmlANH5jDQ
“Oh, that’s just the poltergeists.”
Like it was nothing!147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBh9CCyOu4p
Just casual ghost robots, no big deal.
I was half creeped out, half laughing—and 100% convinced that R2-D2 had joined the paranormal.
To this day, I’m still not sure how she pulled it off.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbfcht80r58
But one thing’s for sure:147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGU1eLwwxk
Miss Murray kept us on our toes—and always smiling.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRkynpBmBui
147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZnhW6zBdGp
I had to leave the school for a while.
Not because I failed or got in trouble—nothing like that.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjo7KqIGR9n
It was because of my pituitary dwarfism.
I was smaller than the other students, and the school staff was worried about me.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vYvLPROY8
They didn’t want to throw me into first grade, not when they knew I’d stick out and likely get picked on.
So they suggested I retake kindergarten.
Not because I couldn’t handle the work—147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4I1mk9ZEN3
but because of my size.
They were trying to protect me, I know that now.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzenpHWjiRv
But at the time, it felt like I got held back for something I couldn’t control.
That was one of the first times I realized that being different—really different—was going to come with some extra hurdles.
But God still had me in His hands, even then.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDy0AnftNHT
Even when I didn’t understand it.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYi13pf9So0
So I ended up retaking kindergarten anyway—147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2nM48AHppa
this time at Pettit Park School in Kokomo.
That move turned out to be a blessing in disguise.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaMZnSgj6rK
Because it was then that people really started teaching me about God.
We started going to Four Square Assembly of God,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUnRnUDEgT
and Grandma began reading me bedtime stories straight from the Bible.
Those weren’t just stories to me.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrqOsimZxz
They were adventures.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4GTBU23jQU
Heroes and battles, miracles and mercy—147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoQWn5H6RIq
and in every one of them, God was there.
That summer, I gave my life to Jesus.
I was baptized in a swimming pool, since our church didn’t have a baptismal.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdv6LxI8EsA
Didn’t matter—water’s water when the Spirit moves.
I went down a little boy,147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Fr1VjthI3
and came up with something new—147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7MROWr3qX
a heart learning to follow Jesus.147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5Vls7L5On
147Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISS0iNOh2r
